Istyar
Believed to have been born in the year 5, ADP, Istyar of Dalaran, also called Istyar the Theogonist and more fancifully, "The Unicorn of Tirisfal," was a magician who is best remembered as being the first Court Conjuror of Lordaeron after the Kingdom of Stormwind reclaimed it and installed its Regency in the year 35, ADP. Biography Sourced from a presumably biographical manuscript believed to be written circa 35, ADP: "When the violet spires of Dalaran reached searchingly into the tourmaline welkin above, reflected in the starry waters of the lake Lordamere, Istyar was born the only begotten son of Ithilien, conjuror of the First War and an Archmage of the Kirin Tor. Erstwhile the last scion of a bloodline of Arathi wizards, Ithilien was overjoyed. Once Istyar sprang from infancy in his father’s gnarled arms to boyhood, and his aspergic genius made apparent thereby, the eye of the Kirin Tor fell upon him. By the aged sciolists of the magical order Istyar’s gifts were cultivated to stand proud before the stars themselves. Now, after three decades, Istyar has become learned in all the magico-religious lore and ceremony of the Kirin Tor. For thirty long years, cloistered in the inchaunted towers of the magical city, the wizard has studied the arcanic, antique and antediluvian metaphysics in pursuit of the higher mysteries. Istyar has read the words of the Quel’dorei philosophers such that their words echo in his mind, and peered so long to the titanic glyphs that their earthen runes haunt his eyes. Even the secrets of the ancient Eredar mystery schools have become known to the magician. Now, after innumerable excursions scouring all the known world’s magical traditions, from the miraculist rites of the fallen civilizations to the most degenerate shamanistic apotropaics; after seeing the warded walls of his home riven in two by the fallen Prince Arthas; after the bowels of Dalaran itself were ripped from the earth to stand betwixt life and ruination, Istyar stands to greet destiny. A well regarded essayist and former archivist among the Kirin Tor, and magically gifted even for his relatively young age of thirty years, Istyar has grown disillusioned with his order, and views the rise in moral and material decadence of the magocracy as a precursor to the same backward, worldly thinking that precipitated the fall of the Highborne and sundered the well of eternity. As a lover of early Highborne philosophy and its high and lofty ideals, Istyar has hitherto avoided conflict and devoted most of his time to reminding his fellow magi that Magic must first be seen as a path to spiritual attainment, and not a tool to be abused in worldly affairs--but as these remonstrances fall on more and more deaf ears, he questions more seriously his place among the Kirin Tor. - After the felling of Teldrassil, Istyar acted on his misgivings over his Order and its place in his life. Through astrology and sortilege, he divined the reclamation of Lordaeron, and soon thereafter resigned his post as Senior Archivist of the Violet Citadel. He would have been lief, thought he, to acquire a position in the reestablished Court of Lordaeron, as Court Conjuror; serving as a mystical advisor to whatever regent His Majesty would deign to place on the throne of Lordaeron. A more comfortable life it would offer Istyar, than that of a glorified librarian, and with power to be abused. After all, the magician was no stranger to the trials of rebuilding a kingdom. So, to the Capital he went, propitiating the nobility of Stormwind and entering correspondence with men of rank and means, as it all pertained to the campaign in Tirisfal. Though, as the days passed and less progress was made as to his prospective position, the wizard felt a silken noose called despondency tighten around his throat. On the day of the campaign’s commencement, a desperate Istyar petitioned, in proscynesis before the High King himself to march on Lordaeron with his retinue. To Istyar’s surprise, and horror, his request was granted. Though the Battle for Lordaeron was the first combat Istyar had seen since the Siege of Dalaran over a decade prior (which he only narrowly survived by hiding under rubble and corpses after Archimonde demolished the city) Istyar distinguished himself on the field of battle; and to his own great astonishment. Finding some alien solace in the cacophonous havoc of pitched battle, the magician roused himself to great feats of conjuration--raining fire from the heavens and evoking the spirits of the land to vanquish the foemen and evil-doers. Istyar intoned till his tongue ached and his teeth stung, and gesticulated the magic symbols of his art with such vigor that his hands bled from the arcanic energies coursing through them. And when the Banshee Queen cast the blight down on the allied host, Istyar was the first to rip open magic portals, teleporting his allies from the city and delivering them from agonizing deaths. In the smoldering ruins of Brill, during the woeful aftermath of the conflict, Istyar was approached by nobles and officers of rank, and decorated for his courage in battle. When these men learned, from a humbled Istyar, that he was not a national of the Alliance, but a citizen of Dalaran and mage of the Kirin Tor, even greater praise was heaped upon him. They called him ‘archmage,’ and asked if he would remain to aid in and oversee the reestablishment of government in Lordaeron. When they hastily confirmed his suspicion that this would entail a position as Court Conjuror (once the Court, itself, was reestablished), he did not feel the swelling joy he expected, but, in his heart, a bitterness. He agreed to their proposition, and began his journey down this new, winding road to which the Light had led him." Appearance From the personal writings of one, "Songbird of Thondroril,": The magician’s epicene, beatific countenance speaks to many years of his antecedents’ high breeding and eugenics, and with incontrovertible results, as Istyar’s spectral pallidity and ebon coiffure (contrasted against his scintillating celeste eyes) are only the most striking features of his physiognomy. Observers familiar with human phylogeny would recognize in Istyar those ancient and noble features of the Arathi mingled with the gracile, if effeminate and elfin visage of the Dalaranian magocrats. The magician’s voluminous, brachycephalic cranium is most prominently evinced by a towering but attractive forehead which descends into a soft, subtle jaw and terminates in a delicate recessed chin--which compliments his straight, pointed and petite nose. Istyar is beautiful. The magician’s soft, untested body, nightly massaged and anointed, is habited in the goodly raiment of the Kirin Tor--his delicate feet wrapped in silken cloth and shoon of lamb’s leather--all meticulously kempt and worn but accoutered with peculiar gauds and periapts. His pristine alabaster flesh is perfumed with saccharine, aromatic oils, and (should a sleeve run too high on his arm) one might peep where he’s marred the skin by painting a network of arcanic runes and sigils on to serve some esoteric purpose. Istyar adorns himself with a panoply of ensorceled jewelry--antique rings, bangles and amulets all bejeweled and enchanted to ward off various evils and malisons, or perform other magical functions. The majesty of Istyar’s physical appearance is dimmed by his bizarre and sometimes disturbing comportment. Save only for moments of extreme duress, he always wears the same aloof, non-emotive expression--and speaks with the detached, poetical verbosity others might only perorate the orisons of yore, and his meaning is often lost in a web of obscure verbiage. The magician ambulates with a swaying, and almost graceful dancing gait that the astute observer would recognize to belie clumsy, wobbling steps. Even for a magician, Istyar’s piercing eyes possess an especial, indescribable mesmeric quality that can seduce and subdue the perception of the wizard’s interlocutors. Category:Human Category:Mages Category:Dalaranian Category:Lordaeronian Category:Kingdom of Lordaeron Category:Kirin Tor Category:Characters